Has anybody used this ibike newton power meter or heard any reviews? Thanks
I have one.
The good:
Pretty cheap and there are deals out there on them when compared to a power meter and head unit.
Though not a direct force meter, its shockingly accurate compared to my buddies SRM. Keep in mind its actually estimating power on a wide number of factors.
The bad:
the base unit will get you by, if you want trainer watts, normalized power, the ability to layer your ride over a gps source these things cost extra.
On a TT bike you need a remote wind sensor tube which is too long and is a bit goofy looking.
Thouhg it does a good job estimating your power, it is an estimate. It can g off a bit here and there and from what I understand the earlier models did. It is a good tool for training but as someone will chime in to tell you, its not 100%.
Overall, I like mine.
I haven’t had a chance to test the Newton but I’ve tested the output from the previous generations of the iBike. Every update of the iBike has been an improvement over the previous model. Every release of the iBike, including the first, has claimed that it is the equal of a Power Tap or SRM.
iBike is in a tough spot. Their competition isn’t the Power Tap or SRM, it’s a Garmin head unit and Strava.
I think you may be right. Its an etimate, and realy good one for all intensive purposes but there are other options out there that do the same. I would be curious to see how the combo you mentioned compares to a newton and a srm for the same rides.
I think you may be right. Its an etimate, and realy good one for all intensive purposes but there are other options out there that do the same. I would be curious to see how the combo you mentioned compares to a newton and a srm for the same rides.
Out of curiosity, what other options out there?
Also, it’s “intents and purposes”. Grammar police… sorry.
I guess I’m not 100%, there are sites like strava that can estimate wattage. I guess the advanatage on the ibike is it does it real time on your display and does it well. The strava and gps route gives an estimate but I’m nore sure if its real time or the formulas are as solid.
As can be seen from the popularity of the Stages, many people think that accuracy is unimportant and only consistency matters. That’s in part because training isn’t a particularly demanding use of a power meter (there are uses for power meters that demand high data quality and accuracy – it’s just that training isn’t particularly one of them). Many people can train effectively with the iBike, or the Stages, or a Garmin head unit and something like Strava (or a HRM, or a wristwatch). If you mostly do the same training routes, elapsed time turns out to be not a bad metric of effort cuz it’s pretty consistent. Plus, unlike the iBike, you get maps and can compete with your friends (and yourself).
iBike has a narrow niche and it’s getting squoze from below by a GPS receiver with Strava and from above by the Stages.
But doesn’t Strava only show power values after the fact while iBike will show them while riding. As long as it’s consistent then it seems it would work for training for most folks.
I used an iBike for many years, and eventually got tired of messing with it. The biggest negative for me is that the “tilt” is adjusted by referencing barometric pressure to compute altitude changes, and this can be off by as much as 5% IME. In other words your power on a long climb (and there are many where I live) can be off that much due to that one single error. On descents it’s even worse.
There are many others error as well. Now that they’ve chipsealed all the roads around here, I’m sure it would be dysfunctional due to vibration. Getting true airspeed is always difficult. It isn’t accurate in real time IME, but you can massage the data when you get home and it isn’t too bad on an average basis.
If Strava would allow you to input CdA and Crr, wind direction and speed, and a drafting %, it would be quite decent for getting an average power for loops or out-backs.
Right, but for training purposes it doesn’t matter much. Time is a pretty consistent measure, which is why is works for training purposes.
I used an iBike for many years, and eventually got tired of messing with it. The biggest negative for me is that the “tilt” is adjusted by referencing barometric pressure to compute altitude changes, and this can be off by as much as 5% IME. In other words your power on a long climb (and there are many where I live) can be off that much due to that one single error. On descents it’s even worse.
There are many others error as well. Now that they’ve chipsealed all the roads around here, I’m sure it would be dysfunctional due to vibration. Getting true airspeed is always difficult. It isn’t accurate in real time IME, but you can massage the data when you get home and it isn’t too bad on an average basis.
If Strava would allow you to input CdA and Crr, wind direction and speed, and a drafting %, it would be quite decent for getting an average power for loops or out-backs.
The rub of the airspeed is a problem…I just rode a HIM bike PR on Sunday, the Ibike said I road at 144NP (FTP is 215-220), which is .67IF for me. While I road in control, I rode harder than the Ibike said. The issue is wind - on the TT bike with a bottle in the bars you have to use the remote wind sensor, I don’t believe its accurate in this set up.
Its not a bad tool for the money but when your trying to pace in a race its been another story for me.
What generation did you have? I heard some of the older ones could be way off.
Right, but for training purposes it doesn’t matter much. Time is a pretty consistent measure, which is why is works for training purposes.
Agree entirely. For training purposes time is perfectly adequate and power meters can be a bit of a phaff.
But for aerodynamic improvements a power meter really comes into its own.
Gen 1, 2, and 3. The errors I’m talking about are inherent to the design, and from what I was able to tell, they weren’t fixed in the Newton.
I don’t think they could be fixed without using a GPS as a correction to barometric altitude, an accelerometer that is impervious to vibration, and a much more sophisticated airspeed and direction sensor.
The interesting feature seems to be the ability to see real time CDa values and to analyze how much lateral movement you have as you ride, but I figure these things get dialed in (or can only be trained so much) and then the value of the feature is finished. To me it looks like a tool I would want to borrow for a few weeks but not own.
Yeah, I’m not sure. Iknow the newton uses a tilt sensor outside of pressure just so it can figure out your peddle stroke if you pay for that upgrade. Not sure how well that works as I don’t have it.
Pretty sure they haven’t changed that from the #3 model. They use an accelerometer for instantaneous tilt and acceleration, but this is constantly tweaked based on barometric readings of elevation gain and loss. You must be thinking of an ant+ speed sensor for the trainer.
They do use a ant+ sensor for the trainer, so you can plug in your trainer profile and it wil display power info, they also now sell an upgrade that will evaluate you peddle stroke by determineing cadence vs rocking I believe.
I feel like it would be cool for like 2 days and then useful.